


Crow Kingdom

by brekkfast



Series: Crow Kingdom [1]
Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, a side project, idek if this makes any sense, im just writing, man i hope yall like it, ugh this is just
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-19 04:06:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19349155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brekkfast/pseuds/brekkfast
Summary: Set two years after the events of Crooked Kingdom, Kaz Brekker has solidified his position at the top of the Barrel. He's only just waiting to burn everything to pieces, and takes satisfaction at how the DimeLions have basically been reduced to nothing. But what happens when he comes to head with a lieutenant of the DimeLions, who reminds Kaz, and everyone else, of himself?Someone ruthless, silver-tongued, and intelligent? Someone hellbent on revenge?A girl of nineteen who wants to destroy someone, just as much as Brekker wanted to ruin Pekka Rollins. Min saw Brekker succeed at breaking Rollins, and now she wants her turn. She asks for the impossible and needs Brekker's help to do it. But she's not willing to show her hand that easily. A girl far from her home in Kree, a country in the Far East, was reborn in the canals of Ketterdam. Kaz Brekker is at odds with this mysterious figure, especially with her ghostly companion, Miro. Someone who reminds Kaz too much of Inej.A heist bigger than the Ice Court and manipulation more complex than the Merchant Council suffered at the hands of, it's easier to dig your own grave. But Brekker can't say no, when there's so much at stake.





	1. Min

**Author's Note:**

> God, the summary makes it seem like there's more to it, but like there really might not LMFAO. Just read it and see if yall like it man. I need a huge slap of inspiration

Min hated Ketterdam. She didn’t know why tourists came, or why they stayed. She realised she didn’t care. So she poured herself another glass of watered down lager and downed her third cup. _A congratulations,_ she told herself. For another rung up the ladder. For being a step closer to painting the walls of a never-forgotten court a sweet, sweet red. 

“You shouldn’t drink so much,” the shadow said.

“Someone has to celebrate,” Min’s smooth tone did nothing to soothe the ruffled feathers of her shadow, and the lack of taste in this lager did nothing to soothe the raging thoughts in Min’s head.

“I guess what they said was true, they _are_ selling watered down lager at the clubs. I’m basically drinking bath water.” _Ghezen, she could go for a hot bath now._

The shadow moved and suddenly materialised in front of her. It grabbed the bottle, and the movement reminded Min of a water droplet racing down a wall into gravity’s grasp. Only Miro Zima, her Phantom, would have the audacity to click his tongue like a disappointed mother hen to Min’s drinking habits. It had taken her two years in this Saintforesaken country to get to where she was now, but the wait was worth it. She made a name, from alleyway fights and the stacks of kruge in her safe. Min had learned to play the game. Soon enough, she would master it. 

The stolen piece of paper on the desk in her newly acquired office stared up at her. The familiar black wax seal of The Dregs ––a crow, perched on a wine glass, decorated the seal. _Kaz Brekker only deals in shame and money._ Min had plenty of money and shame to deal with. If there was any justice in the world, Min's demons would be catching up real fast, but with her having played judge, jury, and executioner one too many times had her cynical of anything but greed. 

The surprisingly neat scrawl made her curiosity lean even further, like a bird tilting too far forward on its perch. In the two years Min spent her time in Ketterdam, she made sure to find out everything about this famous Kaz Brekker, snatching up even the faintest of rumours. Big Bolliger, the Ice Court, demon hands, genius mind, _Pekka Rollins_. Everyone talked about how Brekker made his arch nemesis beg, the way Brekker ruined his life without so much as lifting a finger. So this was the Bastard of the Barrel. Min approved of his tenacity. 

She grabbed her letter opener and sliced the wax seal open. 

Min almost smiled. A short, sharp letter: _It’s about time you and I had a talk. Parley. Twelve Bells._

_Finally, I’ve been nipping at his heels for long enough._ She grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and wrote her response. After stamping her wax seal on the roll, she spoke to her shadow. “Miro, take this to Brekker.”

“Say please.”

Min looked at Miro right in his icy, blue eyes, and crooned, “Oh Miro, my dearest love, give this letter to its rightful owner. _Please._ ”


	2. Kaz

Kaz needed a holiday. Anika had burst in through his office just as he was pouring himself his third cup of brandy to medicate his headache. A part of him was glad for the distraction from the problems that littered his desk. _Rask was skimming cards, Fifth Harbour was a mess, and somehow the DimeLions got the gall to throw their weight around._

“Kaz! Have you heard the news?” Anika rushed.

Not even lifting his head, he let his eyes focus on the papers in front of him. 

The long stretch of silence was eating at Anika’s patience. She was shifting from foot to foot, eager to share the new information and a simple motion of Kaz’s hand had her spilling. 

“Geels is dead.”

Kaz paused. _That old man lived longer than he should’ve._

She was breathing hard, probably from her sprinting up the stairs, rattled gasps coming out of her nose as she tried to control her breathing, her yellow eyelashes fluttering. 

“Dead.”

“Yes.”

 _Pekka-?_ No, he didn’t have the balls. Not when everyone in Ketterdam knew what had happened. Not when members of the BlackTips, Razorgulls, Liddies, even Harley’s Pointers knew what had happened. Though they didn’t show it, Kaz could see it all in the way they looked at him. Pure jealousy, wonder, shock, and best of all, fear. 

Nobody would miss Geels, well perhaps Elise living in Nineteen Burstraat, but it _would_ cause instability in the Black Tips.Maybe another part of the Barrel to conquer and burn. 

“Apparently, there was a feather on his desk.”

 _Razorgulls._ _But it couldn’t be. They wouldn’t be as stupid to sign their own murder._

“No,” Kaz murmured, “they have no incentive other than to keep their heads down and feathers flat.”

“That’s what I thought too, but last I heard, the Black Tips are going to war with the Razorgulls. I guess that’s what Geels gets, for throwing his weight around them birds’ territory.”

Kaz couldn’t help but agree, last time Kaz humiliated Geels in front of his gang, it would have been an obvious tactic to pick on someone lesser than him. Guess, the Razorgulls finally put those bird brains to use. 

Kaz only nodded. “Any other updates?”

“Whispers say that the Black Tips are emptying their coffers to pay Harley’s Pointers, while the Gulls are paying off the Liddies. But nothin’ much else. I mean I wouldn’t blame Roeder though,” _Roeder_ , he’d gunned for Inej’s spot right after she’d left, the bastard, “if four gangs are gonna go off on each other, I’d wanna keep my head on me shoulders too.”

 _An all out war. Are they stupid not to think that they were both weak? The arrogance of these gangs surpassed their intelligence it seemed._ But Kaz wasn’t in the business of worrying about children fighting. _If he got lucky, they’d kill each other off._ “Just don’t render yourselves useless. You shouldn’t be scared of children fighting. How did he die?”

Anika hesitated. “Well?”

“Zephyr was in his office. Barred windows. Guards posted everywhere you could post them and more, don’t know how they could afford that, but someone got past them. Knife in his chest. They said- they said it was like a ghost. Like a Wraith...” she trailed off. 

But they both knew that Inej was on a ship killing slavers and freeing slaves. It would be impossible for her to do that from across the continent on her ship. Kaz ignored Anika’s frown. The ache in his leg only added to his migraine. “On your way out,” apparently this conversation was over, “tell Rask to pack his bags, or he’ll get what’s coming to him.” 

Anika hesitated, then nodded at Kaz’s pointed expression before leaving his office. 

Kaz picked up the letter that sat in the sea of papers, and examined the envelope as if it held a magic trick, begging to be figured out. His name was written in sharp, practised letters, on the front. _Kaz Brekker._ It felt like a threat. Flipping it over to the other side, he beheld the wax seal. It was a viper, eyes following you like one of those strange paintings, baring its fangs. With a smooth practised hand, he opened the letter. _See you then_ , _-DimeLions_

So he would finally meet the Viper. A DimeLion lieutenant who rose up the ranks in a matter of two years. _Strange_ , he thought. In those two years, he only heard whispers and scraps of information, never actually saw her walking around. She was like a myth, an urban legend. He heard all the rumours. _Her bite was venomous, she can see in the dark, she lives in the canals._ _She pays with your sins._

Kaz’s lips quirked up, to her, he’d be the richest man alive. He also heard the other nicknames. _Demon. Bastard._ Everything they called him, they called her. If she was anything like him, this parley would be interesting. So the DimeLions weren’t dissolving after all. _Pity._

 _The DimeLions._ After the plan to shut down each and every one of Pekka Rollins’ sources of income had worked, the DimeLions were an afterthought. _Pekka Rollins’ had kneeled to Kaz,_ and he would savour that image until his deathbed. After Rollins’ pathetic escape, his second, Zephyr had taken his place. But no-one expected them to last long. Their coffers were draining from their businesses all being shut down, and all of them were quarantined. In that struggling year, some had defected to other gangs (Kaz had made sure he wasn’t coddling any of them in the Dregs) but most fled the city, haunted by the memories of the Plague.

Zephyr may have had the experience in the streets, but he certainly didn’t have the intelligence to run a gang. Kaz had to give it to them. They were still alive, lasting on sheer momentum. They died for a year, but they came back in the second. No thanks to Zephyr, Kaz assumed. Their tenacity was admired for a whole two seconds. 

Kaz considered the letter. There was nothing more to it, but to Kaz, it was proof that this demon truly existed. The DimeLions throwing their weight around was the least of all his problems. In fact, Brekker expected the other gangs to prey on the DimeLions, never allowed to be restored to their previous position again. He practically _gave_ them a stress toy to beat when bored. _Useless_ , _all of these gangs are useless_. 

_But the DimeLions do have nothing to lose. They had a taste of nothing and they would drown in it for revenge, to make something out of nothing._

Kaz knew that feeling all too well. And he’d be damned if he gave those cats anything at all. 


	3. Miro

A huff escaped Miro as he examined the dirty bricks of the Exchange, looking for gives in the wall where he could dig his climbing spikes to lift himself up. Brekker asked Min for a parley, but Min saw it as an opportunity. Got Zephyr to pluck some pigeons coming in off the harbour, secretly baiting The Dregs to come out. Zephyr was scared of Brekker, but he refused to show it. Everyone knew he was desperate. Now the demon had come to protect his territory.

He found a statue of Kerch’s three flying fishes and felt around, making sure there wasn’t any oil or ground glass scattered around. He stuck one climbing spike into an eroding scale and climbed up the statue with ease. Miro stopped at a ledge and grabbed the rain gutter, hoping that there wasn’t anything unsavoury waiting for his fingers. Hoisting himself on the roof he hid in the shadows provided by the roof and breathed in the night air which vaguely smelled like salt, smoke, and fish. The sound of metal on cobblestone below indicated that Min had sat in the chair on the edge of the Exchange. 

_Stay hidden. Stay alert. Keep your eyes open._ Min’s advice rang in his head. And with a sigh, Miro followed, finding comfort in his daggers strapped to his body. 

Twelve bells sounded and combined with the rhythmic thump of Kaz Brekker’s cane, triggered a rush of adrenaline. _Eyes. Open._ Min sat up, her short hair rustling with the movement. Her eyes slitted, reminding Miro of a predator examining its prey. 

The thumping stopped and Kaz sat down in front of her, flanked by his two seconds Rotty and Anika. Miro made a mental note of that. Who Kaz Brekker kept close. They were always potential weaknesses. He knew that Anika was young, ruthless, and a dealer at the Crow Club. Her skittish personality showed in her appearance: yellow eyelashes, red hair, and ostentatious clothing when she wasn’t in her sky-blue uniform. Rotty had been a close part of Kaz’s multi step plan to dethrone and humiliate Pekka Rollins. _Who knew a demon could have friends._ Cane laid across the table, Kaz sat down slowly, amusement flickering in his eyes. 

What Miro would give to know what went on in Min’s head sometimes. She didn’t even rise to check for weapons. Anika and Rotty didn’t make a move either. 

Min was sitting alone.

Shaking his head, Kaz rasped, “Now you’re making me look over prepared. Whatever happened to the rules of the parley?”

“Don’t tell me you’re an old man playing by old ways, Mr. Brekker,” a small sigh, “trust me, I’m prepared.”

“I’m afraid trust is a currency that we don’t deal with here.”

Min shook her head. She said, “Trust is what lets you live. Trust is knowing that your seconds don’t have the balls to shoot you and take your place. Trust is why you succeeded in destroying Rollins’ life.”

“I’ll compromise. I don’t trust people’s character, simply their potential to do whatever they can to get whatever they want.”

“We’re all trying to make a living,” Min replied, a small smile playing at her lips.

“It’s not my fault you chose a dying gang to join.”

“The choices we make are not inherently right or wrong, Brekker, it’s what we do after to _make_ things right. Those pigeons were going to be plucked anyway, take better care of your supposed belongings.”

“Fifth Harbour is mine,” Kaz repeated, and Miro tensed, “you keep poaching them, I’ll show you what _mine_ means.”

From underneath the table Miro saw Min’s hands moving into a signal that kicked his heart rate up. She was signing. “Behind.” _Behind what?_ Her shoddy skills of sign language was going to get herself killed, and maybe him too. He wasn’t just going to leave her there to die. Miro climbed at a precarious angle on the roof of the Exchange like a spider, keeping his eyes on her. And then he saw it. Her finger slid from left to right. "Them." _Anika and Rotty._

Miro ran to the back side of the roof and headed towards the East wall. He slid down the thankfully oil-less pipe and checked if the coast was clear. Anika was fidgeting and her eyes darted around, so Miro slunk back into the darkness, waiting. He heard his mother’s voice. _Miro, the waiting game is the game you need to win. You lose, you lose everything._ Her blue eyes still haunted him at night.

He heard Min’s voice float over the midnight air, “Maybe I could compensate you for the pigeons, in return, I’ll keep them.”

“Now what would a lieutenant of a gang that’s barely hanging on prayers to Ghezen have to offer me? You’ve had to empty your coffers paying to buy your own buildings back, and bribing the mediks to leave Zephyr’s poor workers alone. You even sold The Sweet Shop.”

“Leave _my_ workers alone because the plague was a farce. A lie _you_ created. The Sweet Shop won’t be missed.” Min didn’t sound angry, in fact, her tone was light. 

The Plague was a double edged sword. With most of the then-DimeLions leaving, it allowed for Min and Miro to easily slip into the gang, but it didn’t come easy. They were weak, and their small numbers made it easy for the other gangs to push them around. Min had sold The Sweet Shop for the extra money, yes, but Miro knew that wasn’t all. Miro winced, recalling the heavy sounds coming from Zephyr’s office the night he found out. Seeing her bloody gaze only said that she’d do it all over again. Being his snake was a thankless job. 

“You have nothing I want,” and Kaz’s tone asserted that this conversation was over.

_Like hell it was._

Anika and Rotty took a step forward, arrogant eyes focused on her slight frame. A mistake. With the sea wind hiding his footsteps, he sprinted. Miro slipped behind them and held his daggers to their throats; Anika and Rotty’s arms stopped heading towards the weapons hidden in their coats. Parley rules be damned. 

And it was in that moment, Miro locked eyes with a demon. His gaze was like staring into a burning furnace, ready to envelop you in its flames. Miro didn’t miss the way Brekker’s jaw tightened. 

When he turned away, Miro released a small breath he had been holding. Min’s voice hacked at the silence, her eyes unafraid. The Viper had starved long enough.

“Are you sure you want to hurt me,” Min said, leaning in, “especially when there’s about to be an all out war?” 

Brekker drawled, “I’m not a charity. And The Dregs aren’t a part of-”

Min laughed, dark and heavy. “You do realise those chickens aren’t the only feathered idiots in the Barrel.”

If only Miro could see Kaz’s face right now. Min’s grin sent shivers down his spine. It morphed into an innocent look, and the Viper looked like, well, a small girl too inquisitive for her own good. “Did your second not say whose feather it was? I suppose it’s easy to mix up. One animal is the same as the next.”

“Oh Ghezen,” Anika whispered. Rotty’s expression seemed to agree. 

“It’s a shame to have a _black_ feather on Geels’ desk _coincidentally_ on the night that he died. Yes, Geels poached some pigeons of yours, but who sent him home that much poorer? Who humiliated those Razorgulls when they thought they could get a piece of your pie, Kaz?”

Miro’s eyes hardened, “That’s right. You. I even bet your second told you that the Gulls, Tips, Liddies, and Pointers were allying to fight _each other_. You’d better hope that happens, instead of them allying to fight _you._ ” 

Silence. Min waved her hand like a magician doing a trick, posture relaxed once again, “I could make your wish a reality, make this all go away. Perhaps those bird-brains and cowards can fight each other after all. You can pick up the leftovers if you’d like.”

Kaz’s rock salt rasp ended his silence, “What do you want.” _A statement, not an offer._

Like a snake savouring every bite of its prey, Min crooned, “In return, I’ll keep my pigeons, and then some. You having to drag your seconds’ bodies back to the Crows, I wonder how much shame that’s worth?” 

Brekker remained silent and slid a hand over the brim of his hat. “I suppose I have no other choice.”

Min cocked her head, and said, “Well Mr. Brekker, like I said, it’s about what we do with those choices. But I guess no, no, you don’t have a choice.” 


	4. Kaz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow im StRugGLinG

_“My Phantom will come to you, Brekker,” Min crooned, an insufferable smile playing on her lips as she walked away._

He got played. There was no use denying facts. Too many puppets and the strings got muddled up. 

Kaz Brekker didn’t like losing. He just got lazy, too used to the power his position afforded him. He would not make the same mistake twice. Inej would have scolded him, probably salted the wound with a Suli saying, something along the lines of how power always pulls back. But he couldn’t think of Inej, not when The Dregs walked around, not knowing what happened the night before. 

He just told Anika and Rotty to get back to work, to keep their mouths shut, that he’d handle it, _and to get Roeder’s ass in his office_.

As soon as he’d holed himself into his office, he looked off into the distance, replaying last night’s events. There was something unsettling about Min, it uncomfortably felt like looking at his reflection. Made of razor straight lines beckoning to cut if you came too close, a black suit of simplicity unlike those gaudy frocks the wealthy wore, _and those gloves._ _Too much like a reflection._ Kaz vaguely remembered something Inej had said to him, “The Suli believe that when we do wrong, we give life to our shadows. Every sin makes the shadow stronger, and eventually the shadow is stronger than you.” Maybe this was his shadow, demanding an answer. 

What separated them was the diamond slice to her eyes, lifting at the far edges. _Shu? No, her eyes weren’t gold._ Instead, her bitter coffee coloured eyes stared back at him in the dark, as she went in for the kill, forcing him to fold. Then it was safe to assume that Min came from Kree, an isolated country out in the Far East. But it didn’t matter, if she survived this long, then one could safely assume the Barrel beat the past out of her, replacing it with its own horrors. The Barrel didn’t discriminate. 

And then there was the question of Min’s companion. Ice blue eyes, black hair camouflaged by the night, and silent footsteps. _A Wraith_. No, Min had called him her Phantom. A ghost. He had never heard of a Phantom lurking in the Barrel, but Kaz wasn’t surprised. The trademark of spiders was to keep on the down low, and the Phantom was just better than most. Maybe he did need Inej. Or maybe he was just looking for excuses to see her again. Her deep brown skin, oil black hair fluttering in the sea wind... _He really needed a break._

He massaged his temples, rallying against the onset of another headache when a knock at the door sounded. “Come in,” he mumbled.

Roeder walked in, fear and shame on his face. “You screwed up, Roeder. You’re an idiot who can’t even do their job right. You think you’re a spider? I should throw you out the window and see if you stick, see if you think you’re a spider then.”

The lanky man in front of Kaz shrunk to about half his size with every insult Kaz had hurled at him. “It’s a damn shame you’re getting paid to feed me lies,” he snarled, “what’s stopping me from handing you to the Black Tips and Razorgulls as an offering? Let them do you in, in place of my members?”

“I-” a desperate look at Brekker, with which he responded to with a blank face, “I didn’t know it was a black feather, I’d- I’d just heard there was one. Please Kaz, I swear I woulda told you-”

A raised hand stopped Roeder’s pathetic attempt to justify his incompetence. _The Dregs were already shunning him in their own way. Let him suffer with his mistake._ But Kaz knew that it was his mistake too. he said he didn’t need a spider after Inej had left, but he’d given Roeder the benefit of the doubt. The knife in his back was his own doing. But Roeder didn’t need to know that.

“Where did you get your information?” Kaz might need to pay them a visit.

“At- At Kope, the new coffeehouse in the Barrel. All sorts of fella’s go there to hang, even the rich ‘uns.”

Kaz knew the place. The new coffeehouse in the Barrel, nobody knew who owned it, but Kaz could take an educated guess, especially with how it _conveniently_ popped up after the sale of The Sweet Shop in West Stave. It had been more popular than The Sweet Shop had ever been, where merchants, gang members, and tourists could bump cups and shoulders pretending not to recognise each other. From the outside, it looked like any respectable coffeeshop, but everyone knew there were less savoury things going on under the tables and behind the curtains. Roeder probably went there to fill in the gaps he couldn’t fill himself. 

His voice kept filling the room. “There were two guys who were talking behind me, said that Geels was dead. Said there was a feather on the desk, so I assumed it was a white feather, since you know, we ain’t care ‘bout Geels. No reason ta off him like that. They were hooded, but they described the kill pretty accurately so they weren’t about ta show their faces anytime soon.” 

Anika’s voice pinged in his head, _Roeder sure likes that coffeehouse._

 _So that’s where he was running off to,_ Kaz thought. Kaz had planned to get a feel of what Kope was like, but he had been busy with all the gangs misbehaving. _Another part of the plan,_ Kaz thought bitterly. Kaz would bet good money that those “two guys” weren’t Razorgulls at all, buttering Roeder up like a spider did with its food. And like the idiot he was, Roeder bought it like a kid with too much kruge in a sweet shop. Lesson learned, he didn’t need a spider anymore. Kaz spared a glance at him, and couldn’t help the spike of irritation from looking at his face. “Don’t need a spider anymore, Roe. You’re done,” Kaz said. 

“Get your ass back to the Crow Club and don’t even think of taking a look at the sun,” Kaz bit out, _pretend he’s off the hook, let him think he’s safe. His life could be useful this one last time._

Roeder nodded jerkily and scrambled down the stairs, but Kaz knew he wasn’t going to stay in the Crow Club for long. Sooner or later, Roeder will realise Kaz Brekker doesn’t deal with mercy, and run off to those “Gulls”. Kaz Brekker knew what it was like to lose, but this to him, was the trash taking itself out. If Kaz got hit, he just hit back harder. If he couldn’t find a way out, for him, he’d change the game. Ignoring the slight throb in his leg, he looked out the window, across to the Barrel, and waited. 


	5. Min

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roeder's betrayal comes under the spotlight, which prompts another meeting with the Bastard of the Barrel himself. Min reveals a plan that would affect both Kaz and Min in painful ways. And a name keeps popping up in Min's head, haunting her thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oHmY GoOdNesS this was hard to complete. My brain is frIED from tryna think on my feet.

Min ignored the bead of sweat that ran down the back of her neck, fighting off the temptation to drink the stale coffee or to scratch her forearm. _No drinking, and no scratching,_ the Grisha had told Min and Miro. Min and Miro needed to make their voice less recognisable and draw the Razorgull symbol on their arm, so they sought after a Grisha tailor they knew was working in secret in an abandoned warehouse. The Grisha said it would itch, but she didn’t think it’d be this bad. Her throat and arm was on _fire_. She had been on worse stakeouts than this, but she couldn’t help the twitch in her fingers.

“I’ve done what you ask’d, time to hold up your end of the bargain,” Roeder said, and his voice rose in pitch at the end of the word “bargain.”

Miro, who sat beside Min, gave her a look that said, _really? Couldn’t you pick a spider that was...more spider-like?_ And Min replied with her own impassive look, her lips twitching upwards into the shape of a frown, _he’s unsuspecting enough no-one really notices him._

Min outstretched her gloved hands, making sure Roeder got an eyeful of the five birds on her arm. She was getting tired of the Crow with broken wings, savouring the anonymity her new voice gave her, “what bargain?”

Roeder stopped, eyes going wide. In moments like these, Min would just look away, and she purged her mind, forcing silence to her thoughts. She felt the table rattle on her shin, and her concentration dropped, her thoughts crashing slamming against a wall. A slice of irritation almost had her dragging Roeder to Brekker’s office by the ear. _People are such fickle things._ She looked out the window and looked amusedly at the _real_ Razorgulls sprinting past. Roeder followed Min’s gaze and it triggered another round of yelling. Miro sighed.

“You made me lie to Kaz!” Roeder roared, and slammed the table, coffee cups rattling in their saucers.

“Told ‘im that the feather wasn’t a damn Crow, trick him and Anika into thinking it was you! And in return, ya told me that you’d give me my kruge and protection in the Gulls, that- that you’d protect me!” Min told Roeder that Kaz Brekker was hiding _a lot_ of money from The Dregs. Wasn’t a lie. Min _also_ told Roeder that Kaz Brekker was planning on “letting Roeder go.” Was a lie, but Roeder believed in his uselessness enough to see it as an actual threat.

It was Min’s turn to sigh, “I didn’t _make_ you do anything, Roeder. Did I threaten you? _No._ Did I put a knife to your neck and tell you to lie to Kaz? _No._ Did I say that I’d give you the money Kaz stashed away? _No._ All I said I was there was an opening, but did I say it was going to be you? All I simply did was talk, and you listened.”

Miro’s attention turned sharply to the bells on the entrance to Kope, and Min slowly followed his gaze, interest lighting her eyes. But Roeder wasn’t done yet, “you’re a bunch of filthy liars, acting as if I don’t have dirt on you-”

“I see you’ve made a new friend.” Kaz’s voice studded the room. Roeder flinched.

Min looked at Kaz, took a sip of her coffee, then looked at Roeder as if she was seeing him for the first time, “Friend? I’ve never seen this man before in my life,” she said, her regular voice returning as she and Miro removed their hoods.

And probably for the first time in his life, Roeder closed his mouth, face slack, seeing Min’s face. Miro huffed a breath of amusement. Min cocked her head at Kaz, “I thought I said I would come to you,” she said, but she’d knew he’d come, figure the puzzle out. _Roeder’s cowardice and stupidity was too predictable._

_And finally, she could get to that insufferable itch._ She didn’t miss the way Kaz’s eyes followed her gloved hands.

“You sold me out! Made me a clown!” Roeder choked, expression like a man who had just seen his last chances of survival wisp out of existence. But Miro, Min, and Kaz simply ignored his presence entirely. Let him make a fool of himself, it was easier than any of them doing it for him.

Min extended a hand as if to say, _go on_. Kaz dipped his head in a nod, and then swung his cane in a sudden arc.

Roeder screamed as his kneecap shattered. “Do you know what you’ve done?” Kaz asked, a deeper undertone intruding into his rasp.

He begged, “Please I didn’t do nothin’, she- she’s the one who told me you had stacks of kruge you weren’t sharing, that you were gonna make me bleed,” he finished with a whimper.

Roeder screamed again as the other knee shattered. Kaz’s face remained impassive as he repeated his question, “Do you know what you’ve done?”

Roeder quietened off into choked gasps, only having the strength to shake his head.

“Let me tell you,” Kaz hissed, “You’ve made yourself a dead man Geels. You want to run your mouth? Well, here’s where it gets you.”

Kaz swung his cane one last time, and Miro looked on in disgust as the structured frame of Roeder’s jaw snapped, and the sound reminded Min of a whip cracking.

Min took a glance at Roeder’s form, writhing back and forth, uneven breathing filling the air. “Don’t need another set of ears,” she stated, and pressed a well-used boot against Roeder’s jaw, until his eyes rolled back.

Kaz saw Miro’s perturbed expression, “Your second doesn’t seem to approve of that.”

Min shrugged, “I don’t really care what he thinks,” and before Kaz got another word in, Min matter-of-factly stated, “I have a job for you.”

He paused, “you turn every gang against me, manipulate my spider, and now you have the audacity to ask for my help?”

“Roeder was always going to be your weakest link Kaz, I just made your job easier. I think I deserve a thank you.”

A pointed look. “Thank you for killing a lieutenant, blaming it on me, tempting me to kill my spider, and lying to my face about bullshit feathers,” he said, very lightly, like a kitten patting at a ball of yarn.

Min shrugged. “Just wanted to see if you were as dastardly as they say. You’re a useful tool for what I need.”

Kaz sighed. “Honestly, your skill at creating enemies is near perfection. But making allies and getting clients? I suggest improvement.”

“Constructive criticism is always nice,” and Min straightened, as if her spine was set in steel, “but you don’t really have a choice. The entire Barrel is against you, the Merchant Council probably thinks your death is a public service, and if you survive, you’ll be the king of nothing.”

Kaz’s laugh sounded like salt against stone. “I can handle the gangs. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again. I’m flattered everyone thinks so highly of me. Ketterdam was always destined to burn, and unfortunately, canal rats like me always survive.”

“You’re making it harder than it has to be. I can easily make these problems go away, Kaz,” a glance at Roeder’s unconscious form.

“Do what you want with Roeder, he’s already crossed the line. And do what you want with me. No seconds for your Phantom here to threaten me with either.”

This conversation was going nowhere. Min sighed again, “Kaz, you can’t rule the Barrel when there is no Barrel.”

There was no interest in his eyes, just simple curiosity, “How much is at stake?”

“My pride and dignity,” Min crooned.

“Worthless.”

Min quirked her lips as if to say, “it was worth a shot,” but handed him a golden letter, the wax seal engraved with a tigers head, _Kree’s royal symbol._ Min was no longer interested in play-fighting. 

_Miro had come into her office late at night, and handed her a golden letter with a wax seal that almost made her burn the thing entirely. Kree shipments came at night, as the sailors weren’t allowed to interact with other people, proving that the isolationist nation of Kree still kept an iron fist around their people’s throats. But this letter was a first. It was hastily scrawled in Kerch, surprising, as only the language of Kree was taught in schools. A help letter, scribbled in secret, away from the prying eyes of the King. And it was signed by the Queen. An apology that Min never thought she’d get. An offer of money that was worth half of Ketterdam. A reminder of what was at stake. Min promptly ignored the letter, but a sweet name haunted her dreams and waking thoughts._ Taeri.

Kaz read through the letter once, and promptly gave his answer. “Not interested.”

Somehow Min wasn’t surprised at this response. “Kaz you’d be richer than a king by the time this is over.”

“Though I like the sound of that, I’d much rather spend the last moments of my life bathing in a bathtub full of money than risking my life to be a hero I’m not.”

“Kaz, the world would have ended a million times over if they were waiting for the ‘right’ heroes to come along. Guess they’ll just have to stick to thieves like you and me.”

“You’re asking me to commit treason against a king of a country _I’ve never been to._ ”

“I’m asking _us_ to commit treason.”

_And_? Kaz’s expression seemed to say. So Min showed her last card. She was so close to her mission. _Get revenge. Get Kaz’s help to do it._ “They’re planning an attack on the Madden Islands first. I know you keep fast company with someone who’s currently staying there. The reason why you needed a spider replacement in the first place?” _Inej Ghafa._ Miro intercepted a letter that had been addressed to Kaz, its contents sweet as the spring wind.

Kaz said nothing, and his expression betrayed nothing. He put on his hat, grabbed his coat and cane, and limped out.

“Well, that went well,” Miro’s light tone floated over the now-darkening coffeehouse.

Min nodded, stretching her shoulders, freezing when her wrist felt lighter than usual. _My watch._ Patting down her body, she noticed that her golden letter was missing, the daggers she stashed, and a few hundred kruge from her wallet. Min turned looked at the sunset, smiling when Miro mumbled, “He stole my knives.”

“His arrogance is astounding.” And Miro shot Min an exasperated look as if to say, _takes one to know one._

A guttural groan coming from the ground had Min and Miro palming for their now-absent daggers. _Roeder._ “You were right about him being unsuspecting,” Miro murmured, and it was Min’s turn to shoot him an exasperated look. _Deal with him. And after that, deal with the Razorgulls._


End file.
